Surfer of the Century

Review
By Booklist

This strikingly illustrated picture-book biography celebrates Duke Kahanamoku, who broke records as an Olympic swimmer and introduced surfing around the globe. Crowe begins in 1917 with an exciting account of 27-year-old Kahanamoku’s nearly two-mile ride on a giant wave. Subsequent spreads hark back to Kahanamoku’s early years, when he lived across the road from Waikiki Beach, through swimming training that earned him Olympic gold and worldwide fame… dramatic colored-pencil-and-gouache artwork enhances the sense of Kahanamoku’s iconic persona in glossy stylized images of the muscled athlete charging through sparkling waters. A welcome introduction to a groundbreaking figure rarely covered in books for youth.